Jindal dismissed in Web case

Suit attacks sex-offender website ban

A federal judge Tuesday dismissed Gov. Bobby Jindal as a defendant in a civil suit alleging that a new state law unconstitutionally bars sex offenders from Facebook and other person-to-person Internet sites.

Chief U.S. District Judge Brian A. Jackson also postponed Tuesday’s scheduled bench trial in the case until Nov. 2.

Jackson ruled in Baton Rouge the governor should not be a defendant in the case because he has nothing to do with enforcement of the disputed law.

Postponement of the trial was announced after a medical emergency prevented an appearance by one of the attorneys for John Doe and James Doe, two unidentified sex offenders pursuing the civil suit against state officials.

Louisiana’s new law does not unconstitutionally restrict free-speech rights, according to Elizabeth Baker Murrill, acting executive general counsel to Jindal, and Kurt Wall, director of the Office of Attorney General’s Criminal Division.

The statute contains a provision that would allow a sex offender to visit prohibited Internet sites after first obtaining permission from his or her “probation or parole officer or the court of original jurisdiction,” Murrill and Wall told Jackson in court filings.

“No irreparable harm can be demonstrated by any offender who has not even attempted to obtain direction from their probation or parole officer or the sentencing court,” Murrill and Wall added.

The suit was filed Aug. 15 on behalf of John Doe by attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union.

John Doe is described in the suit as an East Baton Rouge Parish resident, a disabled military veteran, and a registered sex offender who served four years in prison for possession of child pornography.

James Doe, an Iberia Parish resident, joined John Doe in the suit after it was filed.

James Doe is described in the amended suit as a man who spent four years in prison because, at age 20, he had “felony carnal knowledge” of a 14-year-old.